"Where art thou Sesotho?": Exploring the linguistic landscape of Wits University

Abstract

The article seeks to examine if the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)'s language policy on paper is visually reflected on the linguistic landscape of the institution. The objective of this policy is to promote multilingualism, especially the status elevation of Sesotho to become a medium of instruction alongside English and a field of academic study and research. Masoke-Kadenge and Kadenge (2013) note that conceptual flaws within the policy, financial constraints and lack of political will were some of the challenges that militated against the successful implementation of this policy. Today, twelve years after the adoption of this policy, Wits is largely monolingual. This article adopts an expanded view of language policy and explores the linguistic landscape of Wits with the goal of providing invaluable insights into the sociolinguistic situation at the institution. The main focus is on language visibility on public signage in the form of names of buildings like libraries, lecture venues and laboratories, warning notices and directions, among others, and important documentation like employment contracts, e-mails and newsletters at the Braamfontein East campus. The analysis also extends to the university's website. The findings from this study show that the linguistic landscape of Wits is largely a reflection of the failed institutional language policy. It symbolically reproduces an old language ideology of a monolingual – English-based – university, which goes against the spirit of the National Language Policy Framework (Department of Arts and Culture, 2002) which compels South African universities to transform and develop language policies that accommodate linguistic, cultural and racial diversity. LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE, LANGUAGE POLICY AND LANGUAGE PRACTICES Language is ubiquitous in textual form, as it is displayed on moveable and immovable surfaces such as parking bays, street lights, public bins, traffic signs, advertising boards, posters and bill boards, among many others (Gorter, 2006: 1). These textual forms constitute the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a community. Most of the time people do not pay attention to the LL that surrounds them (Gorter, 2006). The notion of LL has often been used for the description and analysis of the language situation in a particular community or for the presence and use of many languages in a larger geographical area. A LL analysis provides an overview of languages that are spoken (Gorter, 2006). Thus, the notion of LL is closely related to concepts such as language visibility, linguistic market, linguistic ecology, diversity of languages and linguistic situation. It implies the use, in speech or writing, of more than one language and thus of multilingualism. It also